A Differnt Kind of Love
by bluepickles92
Summary: Leo and Raph have a lot to learn, especially about each other, but can they come to an understanding before it's too late? Warning:OC whom the story is not centered around but does play a major part R&R please!
1. Prolouge

**A/N: I've been messing around with this and making some revisions, so far I have only put the two parts of the prologues together, but there will probably be more (aka I have writers block on this story). I don't really know why I separated the prologues in the first place.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT, just my OC.**

**Prologue **

She exited the abandoned building that she was currently staying in. The sun was beginning to set below the horizon, making a black silhouette of the New York skyline. Climbing up to the roof, the girl stretched for a minute, then began running, jumping over the gaps in the buildings. As the moments passed, the sky steadily grew darker. She loved the dark, and the unwavering calmness that came with it, even in this city. She had only been here a few weeks, but was already in love with the constant activity that New York was known for.

The girl stopped to scan her surroundings, taking in the layout of the city around her. That's when she heard the telltale grunts and thuds of a fight somewhere off to her left. She quickly turned and sprinted toward the direction the sounds were coming from. She stopped when she found the origin of the noise. Three figures, clearly skilled ninja masters, were fighting at least fifty ninjas that were wearing all black from head to toe. Although the black ninjas were less skilled, they were rapidly overwhelming the three…giant turtles?

She shook her head in an effort to expel the shock that had momentarily taken over her. She was in no position to judge the creatures that obviously needed help. Whipping her double katana out of their sheaths, the girl jumped to the roof of the next building where the fight was taking place. She took out five before landing, and another ten in the next few seconds after.

Raphael saw the flash of two silver blades out of the corner of his eye. '_Leo?'_ was the first thought that came to the turtles mind. He tried to catch a glimpse of the newcomer, but the foot ninjas he and his brothers were fighting were blocking the way. The hothead began to work his way through the crowd until he could finally see who it was.

Raphael's eyes widened in shock when he saw who the swords belonged to. Her midnight black hair went down to her waist and contrasted sharply with her pale skin. She had a thick green headband in her hair that matched her spaghetti-strap tank and sneakers. Also, she wore black capris that cut off just below her knees. The girl's movements were quick, graceful, and precise, never missing a target.

The ninja girl looked at the turtle, smiled and nodded reassuringly at him. Suddenly, her grin disappeared and her amber eyes widened.

"Hey, look out," she yelled over to him.

He couldn't move; he tried, but his limbs just wouldn't obey the commands his brain was sending them.

Seeing that the turtle ninja wasn't going to react to the threat that was coming at him, the teenage girl jumped between the creature and his attacker. She managed to deflect the other ninja's sword with her own. Eventually, she knocked him out, but not before he sliced into her side creating a deep flesh wound. The girl growled in pain, the sound forcing Raph out of his shocked state. The red masked turtle quickly got back into the fight.

"Pay more attention next time," the raven haired girl snapped at the turtle.

Raphael rolled his eyes, "Whateva."

The roof top battle went on for another fifteen minutes. Only six foot ninjas were left standing. Five of them ran off, escaping to fight another day. The turtles considered going after them but decided it was pointless.

The girl was still fighting the sixth, standing on the ledge of the eight story building. Just as the turtles were about to run to her aid, she kicked the last ninja in the chest forcing him to the ground. She stuck her katana through the loose fabric of his black shirt, pinning him down.

"I recommend you leave my friends over there alone from now on," the skinny girl practically snarled at the ninja.

"And if I don't?" hints of panic and anger were evident in the male voice.

She leaned closer to him until her face was only inches from his. "Do you _really_ want to find out?" her voice as calm and cold as the arctic. She then stood up, pulling out her katana. "Get out of here," she commanded the unskilled ninja.

He quickly got to his feet and ran in the direction the others had.

The girl walked over to the three turtles, sheathed her swords, and stuck out her hand. "Hi, my name's Esmeralda," she informed them brightly.

Taking that as his queue, the orange masked turtle replied, "Hey dudette, I'm Michelangelo, and these are my bros, Donatello and Raphael."

Donatello furrowed his brows and motioned to the cut on her side, "Your hurt."

"Huh…oh, it's nothing, I'm fine." She responded quickly, putting her hand on the wound in an effort to stop the blood flow.

"Would you please allow us to help you after you helped us out, it's the least we could do," Donatello said.

Esmeralda nodded her consent, so the purple masked turtle kneeled beside her to examine the deep gash in her left side. "This is going to need a lot of stitches, you've also lost quite a bit of blood," the brainiac told her, "you could come with us and I'll get you fixed up, or we could drop you off at a hospital."

Panic flashed through her eyes that only Raph seemed to notice, causing him to raise a brow in suspicion. "I'll go with you," she replied quickly.

Donatello was about to pick her up when she held up her hand and took a step back. "I can walk."

The medic crossed his arms. "You're in no shape to walk," he stated.

Before Esmeralda could argue, Raphael picked her up bridal style and started towards the lair.

"Put me down!" the girl growled as she struggled to get out of the hothead's grasp.

"I ain't listenin' ta you an' Don argue all night," Raph snapped. "Now quit strugglin'."

"I would if you put me down," Esmeralda quipped.

"Heh…nice try, girly, dat ain't gonna happen, now shut up," he answered, his Brooklyn accent thick in his voice.

By now the four were in the sewers, quickly nearing the entrance of the lair. Raphael brought the injured girl to the infirmary, while Don pulled out his medical supplies.

"Do you want anything for the pain?" he asked Esmeralda.

"No, I'm fine…barley feel it." Her voice was calm and steady.

Donatello was impressed by this girl; even his oldest brother Leonardo, who was infamous for trying to hide pain from his brothers, would have flinched when the process of stitching began, but this girl didn't flinch at all. Actually, when he was almost done, Don noticed that she had fallen asleep.

"I've always told you that you were boring, this kinda proves it." Don turned around to see Mikey standing just inside the door way of the infirmary. "Wha'd ya do? Explain quadratic mechanics to her or something?" the goofball teased.

"It's quantum mechanics, Mikey." The brainiac rolled his eyes, "And, no, I didn't say anything to her."

At that moment Master Splinter and Raphael entered the room.

"How is she, Donatello?" the aging rat inquired.

"She's going to be just fine, Sensei. But she needs rest; it looks like she's hardly slept in weeks."

Splinter nodded his head then looked over to Raphael, who was looking down at the sleeping girl. "Is something the matter, my son?"

The sai bearing turtle looked at his father then back to the girl. "Somethins' not right wit' dis girl, she panicked when Don said dat we'd bring her to a hospital."

"Maybe she's Nosocomephobic," Don suggested.

Michelangelo gave his immediate older brother a confused look, "Ahhh…dude in English please."

"It means she has a pathological fear of hospitals. Like Raph's pathological fear of bugs."

"I ain't scarred a no bugs," Raph growled through his teeth.

Splinter ignored his sons' banter, and stared intently at the girl. Most humans would have run away at the sight of giant turtles, not willingly go home with them. Perhaps she was afraid of hospitals, as his smartest son had suggested, or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, he would talk with her when she woke-up; the ninjitsu master was very interested in where she had come from.

"It is late my sons, time for you all to go rest," he ordered his students.

The turtles silently nodded and left the infirmary to retire to their rooms for the night. Splinter glanced back at the girl one more time before doing the same.

The next morning, Esmeralda woke-up to find the cut in her side hurting her a lot more than it had the night before. Ignoring the pain, she sat up and looked around the room, taking notice of the clock hanging on the wall. It was five o'clock in the morning. She let herself fall back, her head hitting the pillow as she lay back down.

"Ugh…why can't I just sleep in late for once?" With a frustrated sigh, she stood up and walked out of the room. She ventured around the subterranean home, walking through the living room, the kitchen, past the bathroom and what she guessed was a meditation room. There were stairs leading up to the second floor, but she decided not to go up, figuring it was were the bedrooms were located and she didn't want to disturb anyone. Eventually, she came to the dojo. Upon entering, she saw one wall lined with different weight lifting equipment, along with a punching bag in the far corner. On the opposite wall was several shelves that held various weapons, gadgets, and pieces of armor. In the middle, a large mat was laid out on the floor. Sitting on one of the shelves nearest her were her katana. Quickly rushing over to her prized possessions, she picked them up and pulled one out of its sheath. Her eyes slowly swept over the weapon, taking in the green cloth wrapped around the hilt, and the silvery glint of light reflecting of the cool metal.

The turtles that Esmeralda had met last night and a giant rat entered the dojo. She quickly re-sheathed her katana and faced the four creatures.

"I did not mean to wander, I was just looking for my katana," she apologized, lifting the swords for them to see.

"No need for an apology, child, you are welcome here." Splinter assured her, "Though, I would like to talk with you."

Esmeralda nodded, "What about?"

The wise rat sat on the floor motioning for her to do the same. "It is my understanding that you know ninjitsu. I would like to know where you acquired your skill."

The teenage girl sat down in front of Splinter. "Do you want the full story or the summary?"

Raphael leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Whicheva's fasta," he snorted.

Esmeralda looked over at him with defiance in her amber eyes. "My parents and I moved to Japan when I was three. Our next door neighbor was a master in the arts of ninjitsu and bushido. He started to train me. When I was eight, my parents d-died in a car crash, so my sensei took me in." Esmeralda paused, looking at the floor. "…Then, about a month ago my sensei passed on, also. Be-before he died, he told me had a friend in New York that could continue my training."

"Who is it that you are looking for?" Splinter inquired.

"Um…someone named Hamato Splinter,"

The old rat bowed his head, "I am Hamato Splinter,"

"Well," Esmeralda pulled a small envelope out of the pocket of her capris, "then, I guess this is for you."

Taking the envelope from her, Splinter opened and read the letter inside. When he was finished, he looked back to the now anxious girl. "I will continue your training, but what does Makoto-san mean when he says that you are not human?"

"I-I'm not. I'm a shape shifter…well…sort of, I can only shape shift into a wolf," came the unexpected reply.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Mikey excitedly shouted, "Wow! That's so cool...Can I call you Wolfie?"

"Um…sure, I guess I have no objections to it," Esmeralda replied, slightly weirded out by the hyperactive turtle. "I'll need to get my things."

"You may do so later, after sunset. I request that you take one of my sons with you. New York is a dangerous city; I do not even allow my sons to go out alone."

"Hai, sensei," the girl bowed her head obediently.

**A/N: Review if you want!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: for those of you that were wondering where Leo was, this chapter answers that question (though watching the 2007 movie would answer it better).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT **** just the story idea and my OC **

**Chapter One**

(_Two Years Later_)

Leonardo was glad to be back home. He'd only been home for about two weeks, but somehow it felt as though he had never left. The time he had spent training in Japan and Central America becoming nothing more than the hazy dream of a past life. It seemed strange that the harsh reality of the past two years now looked more like home movies being played in his memory. Though, what really confused him was how his brothers and father have been acting since he got back. They were checking their shellcells like they were expecting a call, and their eyes would drift to the entrance of the lair periodically like they were waiting for someone to walk through it. But they couldn't be waiting for anyone, he was already there, and who else did they have to wait for?

It was a quiet night in the lair; Donatello was in his lab, Raphael was on the couch watching television, Michelangelo was reading comic books, Splinter was in his room meditating, and he was training in the dojo. It was somewhat comforting to know not much had changed in his absence.

Leonardo paused a moment in his training, listening to his youngest brother move from his bedroom to the living room. _'Who could they be waiting for, though?'_ Leo shook his head in an effort to expel the thought. Splinter had assured him that it was nothing. _'Wasn't it?'_

Esmeralda was becoming impatient. It felt like she had been driving down this road for forever. She just wanted to get home, she was exhausted, she missed her brothers a lot, and the last few weeks had been horrible. The raven haired girl wasn't usually one to complain, but right now she felt she at least deserved that luxury if nothing else.

Esmeralda pulled her motorcycle over to the side of the road and took a map out of her backpack. Quickly unfolding the large piece of paper, she scanned the U.S. map, then she looked up to scan her surroundings. She was almost home, maybe two or three more days and she'd be sleeping in her own bed again.

_'I should call my brothers,'_ she thought as she tool out her shellcell and started to scroll through her contacts, _'but which one should I call?' _She finally chose one and listened to the phone ring, waiting for her call to be answered.

_"Hello?"_ came a gruff voice on the other end.

"Hey, Raph, it's me," Esmeralda replied.

_"Haven't heard from ya in a while,"_ the turtle grunted.

"Look bro, I'm not in the mood, right now. I just called to say that I'll be home in a few days." Esmeralda allowed her weariness to seep into her voice.

_"You okay, sis?"_

The teenage girl silently cursed, she hadn't meant to make him worry about her. Her brothers were so over protective, especially her oldest brother, that when they worried about her it felt more insulting than reassuring. They often forgot that she could take care of herself just fine; she may not be as physically strong as them but she could fight just as well.

_"Wolfie? Ya still dere? Wolfie!" _his voice forcing her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Raph. See you when I get home. Bye," she said quickly before he could say anything, then she hung-up. Esmeralda knew he'd be pissed when she got home for hanging-up on him, but she really didn't care.

Raphael was sitting on the couch watching TV, but right now he wasn't paying attention to it. He had just got off the phone with his baby sister. She hadn't sounded too good, which worried him.

Michelangelo came and stood next to the couch, "Whatchya doin', bro?"

Raph looked at his brother, then at his shellcell, which was still in his hand. Suddenly, the hothead jumped up, grabbed Mikey by the elbow, and dragged him in to the lab closing the door after they entered.

Donatello swung his chair around so that he faced his brothers. His eyes narrowed he looked from one to the other. "What's going on?" he finally asked.

The youngest turtle shrugged and pointed at his red masked brother, so Donnie shifted his questioning gaze to his immediate older brother as well.

"Wolfie's on her way home, she'll be here in a few days."

The information brought the brainiac to his feet. "Really? You talked to her? Is she okay? Where is she? Did she find them?" Donnie managed to get out in one breath.

"Yeah, not fer long, dough. She said she's fine, but I ain't sure I believe her," Raph answered.

Mikey then asked, "What about Leo?"

"We ain't tellin' him."

"So, you think it's a better idea for her to show up and surprise him? Leo hates surprises," Donnie pointed out.

Raph retorted, "Masta Splinta woulda told Fearless dat already if he wanted him ta know." 

"Since when do you care what Splinter says or does?" Donnie snapped.

Feeling the rising tension, Mikey smiled and asked, "Anyone whanna play videogames with me?"

Donatello rolled his eyes and went back to his work. Raphael snorted before walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him. The orange masked turtle left the room next, and walked towards the living room only to be intercepted by Leonardo.

"What's with him?" the leader motioned to the direction the hotheaded turtle had just gone.

The youngest turtle looked up at his oldest brother. "He's mad," he simply stated.

Leo furrowed his brows in confusion, "Why?"

"It's Raph, does he ever need a reason."

Michelangelo then proceeded to plop down on the couch and flip through channels, trying to find something to watch. He couldn't wait for Wolfie to get home, especially right now since none of his brothers wanted to hang-out with him. His baby sister and he practically did everything together. She'd even play videogames with him, even though she didn't like playing and was terrible at them.

**A/N: So, tell me exactly what you think of this, I appreciate total honesty, flames allowed. Review please! **


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry that it took so long to update, life kept happening. I also just realized that Esmeralda's name means emerald, which is a green gem stone, and her color is green. I didn't do that on purpose and I'm kind of frustrated that it happened, but oh well, can't really change it now. *sigh* So, here's the chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT :(or Wolverine (I think I mentioned him in here) I only own my OC.**

**Chapter Two**

Esmeralda parked her bike next to Raph's in the old garage they used to store their vehicles, then she got off and grabbed her bags. The sixteen year old girl admired the motorcycle her two oldest brothers had made for her birthday. It was a dark sea foam green, similar to Raph's in design, but smaller. Wolfie walked to the back wall of the old building, found the hidden number pad and punched in the password. A door appeared and she ran through it and down the stairs, entering the lair. The young ninja immediately dropped her bags and sprinted into the living room. Strangely, no one was there so she rushed over to the lab, which was also empty. Wolfie was starting to get worried, at least one of her brothers should be around here somewhere. She started towards the meditation room, her adoptive father could usually be found in there. Before reaching her intended destination, she heard someone in the dojo. The girl hurriedly ran towards the large room, ready to pounce on whichever one of her brothers was in there. It sounded kind of like Raphael.

" Raph, where is…" stopped mid sentence as she saw who was actually in there.

It wasn't any of her brothers, all though he was a giant turtle. His mask was blue and he was holding two katana.

"Y-you're not Raphael," she stated dumbly.

"No, I'm not," he said as he sheathed his swords and folded his arms in front of his plastron.

Just then, Wolfie heard her brothers come into the lair. They stopped laughing and talking as they noticed the bright lime green luggage that was unmistakably hers. Esmeralda quickly glanced at the turtle standing in front of her; he was glaring at her with so much distrust and anger that she could almost feel it pressing down on her.

"I betchya ten bucks she's already training in the dojo," her immediate older brother challenged as he raced nearer.

"Yer on!" Raph replied, unable to refuse.

Leonardo was now confused along with angry. His brothers knew this girl, but he didn't recognize her at all. He had no idea if she could be trusted and she knew of them and how to get into the lair. They shouldn't have been so careless; she could easily go and sell them out to any one of their enemies, not to mention the news media. Mikey came, running at full speed, around the corner, and crashed into the small girl, followed closely by Raph and Don. All three turtles landed on top of the girl, though both the red and purple masked ninja had made a valiant effort not to.

"Okay, guys, get off me," Wolfie half yelled, pushing at Donnie.

The three quickly got back to their feet, Raph pulling his sister up with him, and noticed for the first time their older brother standing before them with a stern expression. All three of the younger turtles mentally cringed, knowing a lecture was sure to come.

Not paying any attention to the eldest, Wolfie asked, "Where were you, anyway?"

"We were helping April move some things around in her shop," Don replied.

The girl turned to face Leo and stuck her hand out to him, "My name's Esmeralda, but pretty much everyone calls me Wolfie."

"Go home," Leo sneered.

Wolfie's eyes darkened slightly as she took a step forward and crossed her arms over her chest, "I am home."

Leonardo was so surprised he actually took a step back. What did this girl mean by saying she was home? The leader turned Raph to fill him in on whatever he had obviously missed. But what his immediate younger brother said next was not what he had expected at all.

"What were you thinkin' hangin' up on me like dat?"

The wolf-shifter shrugged, "I didn't want to be lectured and you were about to."

Sensing a fight coming on, Donnie stepped in between the two and motioned to the eldest turtle, "This is our oldest brother Leonardo, by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Wolfie said, somehow managing to keep most of the sarcasm out of her voice.

Leo just snorted and walked back into the dojo.

"Did you bring anything back for us?" Mikey asked loudly.

"Oh, yeah," she turned to him, thankful for a way out of the awkwardness that had settled over the moment.

Without any hesitation, the hyper-active teenager raced back to where Wolfie's bags were. As soon as she realized his destination she took off after him, easily getting there the same time he did.

"Why don't you let me pull out the stuff," she suggested.

"You have things in there you don't want us to see?" he joked.

The amber eyed girl smirked in response, "Of course there's things in there I don't what you to see."

"Like what?"

"I'll give you a hint, I'm a girl and you're a guy."

A second later Raph and Donnie came around the corner, Wolfie was opening one of the suitcases and pulled out something. Mikey read the front of the package and held it up for everyone to see.

"Cheese curds?" he asked in a slightly critical tone.

Esmeralda snatched the bag away from him. "Yes, they're for Master Splinter. I got them when I went through Wisconsin. They're actually quite good, I had a bag myself."

"You only got two bags?" Raph criticized.

His baby sister glared at him, "No, after I finished the one bag, a raccoon stole the third."

All three of the turtles grinned.

"The mighty wolf got beat by a little ball fur," the red masked turtle mocked.

"Raccoons are a lot bigger than you'd think, never mind that they can out smart even a well-trained ninja."

The others started laughing as Wolfie realized what she said. She shook her head, frustrated that the only person she ever managed to insult when she blurted things out was herself.

"Do you guys want the gifts I got you or not."

That instantly shut them up and Wolfie dug out the first of the presents.

"You know that book you were looking for, Donnie?" she asked her genius brother.

"Yeah, _Utopia_ by Sir Thomas More. You and April looked all over the city for it, and I couldn't find it online."

She beamed up at him, "I found it."

Don's eyes widened in excitement, "No way!"

"Yeah, I found it in some little old bookstore," Wolfie handed the book over to him. "It's even in English."

The bo bearing turtle leaned against the wall, immediately engrossed in the small novel. The ninja girl smiled and shook her head at him before riffling through the bag again.

"And for Mikey…"

"Your favorite brother," the second youngest ninja cut in.

"…a few graphic novels I thought you'd like. Since you've been whining that your comic books are too childish," she lightly mocked.

"Awesome!" Mikey exclaimed as he flipped through the books. After a few short moments he looked up confused. "Why are they all backwards?"

"They're done in Japanese format, so the pictures don't get messed up when they translate them from Japanese to English." Wolfie then turned to Raph and gave him a small smile, "You are so going to love me for this…and possibly forget every reason you have for wanting to lecture me."

Highly doubtful, Raph leaned against the wall. The green clad girl pulled a huge black leather jacket out of her bag and held it up for her oldest brother to see.

Raph's eyes widened as he rushed over to her to grab the piece of clothing and try it on. "Wolfie, yer amazin', it looks exactly like Wolverine's in the movies!"

She smiled proudly at the praise for the gifts she had given her brothers. It almost made up for not being able to return in time for their birthday, which had been about a week and a half ago. She still felt horrible about it especially since they always go all out for her birthdays and she hadn't even been there for theirs.

Out of the blue, Wolfie jumped to her feet and ran out of the entry-way.

"Now where could she be going?" Donnie inquired to no one in particular.

Leonardo was angry and confused; and emotional combination he didn't like at all. Some random girl walks into his home like she owns the place and he's supposed to be okay with it? His brothers couldn't have even known her that long; he has only been gone for two years. On the other hand, how did he miss that she had been living here? The only spare room they had was next to his, he hadn't even questioned why there was an actually door on it now when Don had never bothered to put one up before. Nobody had seen the need for a door on a storage room. Leo almost didn't notice the streak of green go past in his peripheral vision. He turned to see Esmeralda standing in front of the door across the hall that led to the meditation room.

Wolfie ran to the door of the meditation room. She could hear that her adoptive father was still in there, probably waiting for her. The ninjitsu student reached for the door, but hesitated. Now that Leonardo was back, Master Splinter might not want her to stay. From what Mikey and Donnie had told her, the eldest turtle was an extraordinary ninja. With him here there wasn't much of a need for her.

"You may enter, my daughter," an aging voice gently commanded.

She obeyed, pushing the sliding door aside and entering the room. Wolfie immediately knelt in front of her sensei, not knowing what to say.

"It fills me with joy to see you home safe, Esmeralda."

That was all the encouragement Wolfie needed. She sprung to her feet and embraced the rat in a warm hug. "I missed you, father."

"And I you, my child," he kissed her forehead before ending the embrace. Splinter was relieved to finally have all of his children back with him.

"Sensei, I have a question to ask you."

The ninjitsu master nodded his head signaling her to continue.

"Why hasn't anyone told Leo about me?...Actually, why didn't anyone tell me he was back?"

He gave her a knowing smile, "What would you have done had you been told that Leonardo had returned?"

"Ummm…I don't really know, guess I wouldn't have bothered coming back. With Leonardo here, you don't need me. And now, your family is complete."

"And what do you think Leonardo would have done had he been told about you upon his return?"

"I can't really say. I don't know him that well."

The wizened old rat raised an eyebrow, " Then, I ask you to guess."

"Okay, maybe he would leave again, seeing that too many things have changed, thinking that he doesn't belong here anymore. Which makes no sense; no matter what changes he'll still be a part of the family."

"As will you. I am not limited to just having four students or four children, my daughter. As a family grows, the bonds holding it together only get stronger. You under estimate you the role you play, your brothers need you just as much as you need them. And that, I can assure you, will never change."

Wolfie nodded with understanding, "Thank you, Father."

" You're welcome. It is late and you need your rest. Tell your brothers to do the same," Splinter ordered.

The young girl bowed her head, "Hai, Sensei." Then she exited the room closing the door behind her.

**A/N:Tell me what you think. Reviews help me like majorly a lot…so Review please!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I just want to say a thank you to everyone who reviewed/put me on their alert list, it makes me deliriously happy :D Okay, so here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT :( only my OC. **

**Chapter 3**

As usual, Wolfie was the first one up and in the dojo. Morning training wouldn't start for another forty minutes, or later if Mikey managed to find an efficient way to stall. But she always preferred to get there early to practice her katas, and she knew she really needed to. During her trip, she had focused more on her abilities as a wolf-shifter than on ninjitsu. There were a few places where the two over lapped like having to sneak through certain areas undetected due to poachers and wolf packs. Wolfie had found out the hard way that true wolves did not take kindly to strangers in their territories, so she had also been working on her agility. She progressed through the katas rapidly, each movement was so clear in her memory that she barely needed to think as she went through them. Her katana swayed violently to the tempo of a silent beat. Her muscles expanding and contracting as she switched from one pose to the next. For the moment this was all her world consisted of, and it was perfect.

Then Leonardo entered the dojo. She smiled sweetly as she said good morning to him. Being the only morning person in the family, she would have expected anything along the lines of a grunt or a comment about how mornings are never good from the eldest turtle, instead he just ignored her, making his way over to the far corner of the large room. If one of her brothers ever did anything like that to her, she would've instantly cornered him and demanded to know what was going on; however, the leaders reasons weren't at all difficult to figure out. He didn't want her here, nor did he trust her; he had made that exceptionally clear last night. Since she didn't trust him either, his actions were partially understandable, but the others would really start to take notice soon and would undoubtedly try to intervene. To prevent an occurrence like that from happening, Wolfie would have to quietly resolve any issues that might exist between her and the blue masked turtle before her older brothers decide to take matters into their own hands.

As always, Mike and Don walked into the dojo only a few minutes before training was to begin, both of them yawning and rubbing their eyes.

"Isn't it a wonderful morning for lessons?" Wolfie asked them brightly.

Mikey groaned and threw one of his nun-chucks, narrowly missing the girl's head, "If mornings were wonderful they wouldn't start till noon."

Wolfie looked towards the door, "So, Raph isn't up yet?"

"No, I walked past his room and he was still out cold," Donnie replied shaking his head.

"I'll wake him up!" the girl exclaimed as she sped out of the dojo.

Donatello looked over to his immediate younger brother with a raised eyebrow, "She's still suicidal, isn't she?"

"Yep."

A minute and a half later, Wolfie sprinted back into the dojo panting like she had just run a marathon across the city. She fell to the ground laughing while still trying to catch her breath.

"Raph's awake now," she said.

"How'd you get him up without getting hurt?" Don asked skeptically.

"I tipped his hammock over then bolted."

Mikey smirked, "It took you that long to just tip him over?"

"Have you ever noticed how incredibly heavy he is? It took some time to build up enough momentum," Wolfie explained.

"Raph's not that much heavier than the rest of us," Donnie pointed out.

"Remember that you're talking to a 105 pound girl that is lucky just to be able to lift her own weight."

Raph came through the entrance looking like a volcano ready to erupt. He grabbed Wolfie and pulled her over to the other side of the room, away from everyone else.

"How many times have I told you not to do dat?"

His sister looked up at him with youthful innocence, "Do you want an exact number or estimation?"

"I want you to quit doin' it. Ya know ya wouldn't like it if it was done ta ya. It's disrespectful and childish. As a ninja ya need ta show responsibility and self-control. Wakin' people up by shovin' dem outta their beds ain't showin' dat."

Wolfie rolled her eyes, "Next you're going to tell me its dishonorable, right."

"Not respectin' yer eldas _is_ dishonorable."

Leo paused in his kata as soon as the hothead had started talking. He'd never seen his brother act like this. Normally, Raph would beat up who ever made him angry, or at least attempt to in some cases. The level-headed leader made his way over to his two other brothers.

His confusion must have shown on his face because Don said, "This is actually a lot more common than you'd think. Though, how Raph manages to keep his cool with her is beyond me. Even I have trouble keeping calm when she starts with the sarcasm and insolence."

Master Splinter entered and all five students immediately sat down in front of him, ready to begin the days training. "Now, my students, we will begin our lessons with sparring; Esmeralda and Raphael will go first."

The two whose names were called walked onto the large mat, while the others sat at the edge of it. They both bowed and got into a fighting stance. Raph attacked first, swiping his sai at her head. Wolfie ducked and deflected his other sai with her katana. He was having trouble keeping up with her; she was a lot faster than he remembered. Master Splinter was giving him advice on how to correct his form, but none of it was helping. With Mikey all he'd have to do is keep moving faster until his youngest brother made a mistake. That strategy wasn't working with the wolf-shifter; she'd catch on way too quickly and slow down, throwing him off balance. The sound of metal striking metal echoed off the walls as the two continued, neither one gaining much ground. Then, their weapons locked. Raph assessed the familiar situation, noticing the few differences. A little sister instead of an older brother…green instead of blue. He knew how this was going to end and didn't see the point in rushing anything. The red masked ninja eased up a bit, she was putting everything she had into it and he didn't want to hurt her.

Wolfie quickly understood what he was doing but had no intention of letting this end just yet, she applied little more pressure, "Come on, Raphie, or are not as strong as you want everyone to think."

As soon as it was out of her mouth, the girl realized just how much of a low blow the comment was, but it did the job flawlessly. In response, Raphael started to put all his strength into what now seemed to him as a senseless battle. But if she wanted to embarrass herself, he had no problems with it, especially after her last remark. Wolfie's arms began to shake as the pressure on her weapons increased; she wasn't going to be able to hold him back for much longer. Just as her legs began to shake, the small girl jumped sideways sheathing her swords as she moved out from under the overwhelming strength of the large turtle. Raph completely lost his balance and fell to the mat with a loud WHAP! Without hesitation, Wolfie sat on top of his shell to pin him down.

"Very well done, my daughter. Though, insulting your opponent is not an appropriate way to win a battle," the aged ninjitsu master commented.

"Sorry, sensei," Wolfie apologized quickly before Raph sat up, dumping her off him.

Leo rose to his feet in an arrogant defiance, "Master Splinter, I would like to spar with Esmeralda-san."

Wolfie looked up in surprise. Mostly because he was actually acknowledging her, but also because only Splinter used her full name, so it sounded weird coming from someone else.

Their teacher nodded and backed off the mat motioning for the second oldest turtle to do the same. Wolfie was kind of excited to spar with Leonardo. Other than her sensei, she had never fought anyone who mastered the double katana, which, of course, wasn't counting foot ninjas because they really weren't very good. On the other hand she was slightly nervous; she'd never fought him before and didn't know how good he was. The two ninja standing on the mat began, their swords clanking loudly with each strike, block, and counterattack. From the start it was obvious that they were evenly matched, neither getting the best of the other for very long. A few times Raphael had tried to jump in, worried that his baby sister would get hurt. But Splinter stopped him each time, knowing his oldest and youngest children had some issues to work out.

Leo was almost amazed at how well the girl was doing. Even though she wasn't very strong, she made up for it with speed; using momentum instead of muscle. Esmeralda had actually knocked him off his feet a few times. But there was no way he was going to let her win, and he wouldn't need trickery to do it.

Wolfie quickly learned that the leader's fighting style was very similar to her oldest brother's, but slightly less aggressive and more thought out and precise. She was getting bored with this, though, they were practically at a stalemate and could probably keep going like this all day with neither coming out the victor. Wolfie had actually considered just letting him win, but she knew she couldn't do that. She'd never been a quitter, and besides she had to prove that she belonged here.

As he watched his students, Splinter could see their movements get more and more forceful, until it started to seem like they were trying to hurt one another instead of just practice. It was time to intervene. He walked out onto the mat, and the two instantly paused, Leo just barely stopping himself from performing a spin-kick to Wolfie's head.

"Very well done, my students. You both may go sit and rest. Michelangelo and Donatello, you will spar next," the ninja master informed the two who hadn't gone yet.

The rest of the training session was for the most part uneventful, except when Mikey decided to ask Master Splinter what a blow job was effectively ending morning practice. Raph covered his face with his hand; although he constantly called his baby brother an idiot, he was pretty sure that was far from the truth. And he was completely certain that the orange banded teenager wasn't nearly as innocent as he led on due to a string of prank calls both him and Don had received from a mysterious source. Too bad Mikey didn't know the call could still be traced even if the caller ID is blocked.

After they all were dismissed, Mike and Wolfie ran to the kitchen to start breakfast. The teenage turtle pulled out things to make pancakes while telling his sister to start frying eggs and bacon. After a little while, Raph joined them, and pretty soon all three were laughing and joking around.

The eldest was sitting in the living room reading and trying to ignore the shouts and laughter that migrated in from the other room. He couldn't believe his youngest brother asked such a perverse question at all, let alone to their father. What shocked and frustrated him further, was everybody else thinking it was funny.

Don came out of his lab, heading towards the kitchen.

"I'm surprised you're not in there already," Leo said nonchalantly.

The genius turtle leaned on the back of the couch that his oldest brother was sitting on. "I had to finish a project up quick."

Leo turned to face him, "How could you guys be so okay with what that girl did to Raph earlier?"

"Well, like most carnivores, wolves are natural opportunists. Though, Wolfie has gotten a lot better since she came here; she'll probably get a lecture from Splinter later, after he's done meditating on Mikey's question."

Not fully understanding Donnie wasn't ever unusual, but right now Leonardo found himself completely lost, "What do a wolf's natural tendencies have to do with anything, Don?"

"Sorry, I forgot no one told you. Wolfie is a wolf-shifter." Seeing the confusion still on his brother's face he continued, "She can change her physical shape into that of a wolf."

Leo glanced at the kitchen door before moving his eyes back to his brother, "Really…"

Suddenly, someone in the kitchen yelled 'rape' starting another round of laughter. Don chuckled and shook his head earning an incredulous glare.

"You honestly think that's funny. We've rescued woman who have been forced to go through that cruelty, and you've seen what it did to them. Yet you all make light of it?"

Donnie sighed and nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "Leo, we're teenagers. Joking about that kind of stuff is perfectly normal."

"That still doesn't make it right. That girl is a bad influence on you guys, you didn't act like this before I left."

"You were gone for two years, we've gotten older. And any ways, it's more likely that we are a bad influence on Wolfie. She didn't even know what cumming was."

**A/N: Yeah…I'm sorry if anybody was OOC or if I offended anyone but I decided that since they are teenagers they needed to think like teenagers, so I put some stuff in that me and my friends do/say sometimes. Tell me what you think! Flames will most certainly be allowed. Review!...please :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Once again I'm sorry this took so long; I had a bit of writers block while trying to get this chapter going. Now on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT only my OC **

**Chapter 4**

"Wolfie, what are ya doin'?" Raph had gone into the kitchen to get a drink when he noticed the girl sitting at the table starring at a glass of water, her eyes narrowed in concentrated determination.

"I'm trying to move it with my mind. Donnie says it's theoretically possible for someone with enough brain power to be telekinetic."

"Why?"

"I'm bored. If Mikey was here and not out on patrol with Donnie, I would have someone to hang-out with," she casually mentioned

"Ya know Don can't patrol by himself."

"I know. I know," she sighed.

"And …what, ya don't want ta spend any time with yer oldest brotha?"

"Well, I was about to go meditate. You can join me if you…"

Raph interrupted, "No, I'm good. I gotta go talk ta Leo, anyways."

The wolf-shifter let out a soft giggle as he left the room, her gaze still focused on the glass. The second eldest turtle shook his head. How had he ended up with two weird little siblings? But although his sister kept up her usually bright mood, he could tell something was bugging her. She'd been like that since she got back a week ago from seeing her family. Don had found relatives of her mother living on the other side of the country. They all told her that she should go, even Splinter agreed saying it was good for her to know where she came from. Wolfie had stayed in contact the whole way there, and the last he'd heard she was pulling into their driveway. Then nothing for almost three weeks until she called to tell him she was almost home.

Raph was about to turn around to go back and talk to her but decided against it. He could talk with Wolfie later. Right now he had to fix a few problems he had with fearless at the moment. Leo had been going out of his way to exclude Wolfie from everything this past week, and he'd had enough. The sai bearing turtle knew the girl could be trouble at times but she didn't deserve to be treated like she doesn't exist. Raph was going to make sure his older brother understood that.

Raph walked into the dojo where the blue masked ninja was training. Having a talk in the room meant for fighting wasn't the best of ideas but he knew this conversation would most likely end with a few punches being thrown anyways, so they might as well keep it to where there are fewer things to break.

"Bro, we hafta talk."

Leo instantly paused in the middle of a kata, "What about?"

Not really knowing how to gently build up to it, the hothead opted to take the most direct approach, "I don't like da was ya've been treatin' Wolfie."

The elder's hazel eyes darkened. It wasn't enough that the girl was here, now his brother had to defend her?

"Why do you care? She isn't a part of our family."

"She is," Raph replied through clenched teeth.

"No, she's not. How can she be? She's nothing like us."

"What difference does dat make? Our fatha's a rat, if ya haven't noticed."

"That isn't what I meant."

"Den please enlighten me, oh fearless one," Raph's icy voiced dripped with spite.

Leo growled, "She doesn't follow the ways of bushido, and she manipulates to get what she wants."

"Yer such a hypocrite, like you've never manipulated somebody. And she follows bushido betta den you." The hothead's amber eyes lighten with a yellow fire.

As soon as the wolf-shifter heard the yelling she ran to her room, and was now laying on her bed listening to some hard rock song on the radio. It wasn't really yelling; in fact the voices were just barely raised but she could her them clearly enough and it wasn't a conversation she wanted to listen to. She wanted to go stop it instead of just trying to drown it out but Master Splinter had said that sometimes arguing is the only way people can solve a problem. She had a feeling this was one of those times. Though sitting and doing nothing was increasing in difficulty, she could still hear what was being said or at least some of it anyways. After a bit the raised voices ceased, and Wolfie was ready to go back downstairs. She still hadn't been able to move the glass telekinetically, yet. But just as she opened her door, the argument restarted. Wolfie groaned, slammed her door shut then plopped back down on her bed.

"If she does, then why doesn't she act like it?"

"Cuz she ain't a arrogant show-off." Before Raph could continue, a door slammed shut up stairs. His temper seemed to cool as he looked towards the direction the sound came from. "And she can hear everything we say. It don't matta if ya don't trust her or care about her, dat's my job. But at least show her some respect cuz she's part a dis clan whetha ya like it or not," his voice was now reduced to a harsh whisper.

"You're not ready for that kind of responsibility."

"Well, I've been doin' it fer two years, so yer opinion don't really matta."

"Can you even control her?"

"I can control her betta den you could eva control me."

"I've had it with your insults, Raph. They're just pathetic attempts at trying to prove your better than me when you aren't."

"So we're back ta dis? I thought dat trip was supposed ta fix ya er somethin' but ya haven't changed at all. Yer still da same jerk who left here two years ago."

Wolfie sprinted into the dojo, "Guys." The turtles ignored her and kept yelling at each other. She tried again, this time a little louder. "Guys, we've got an emergency." Once again, neither one paid any attention to her. Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the first thing she saw that she knew she could lift, which happened to be a five pound dumbbell, and threw it at Raph's head.

He managed to catch it just before it could hit him but now the hothead's anger was turned onto her. "What was dat for?"

Leo crossed his arms and raised a brow arch like he had recently proved someone wrong and was pretty proud of himself because of it.

Wolfie spoke so fast that Raph couldn't even understand enough to get what she was trying to tell him. Her jumping and waving her arms didn't help much either. All he caught was: "Donamickey…big…foot…now." Raph grabbed her arms and pinned them to her side to hold her still. He was suddenly completely calm, his rage forgotten.

Leo finally understood why his brother was defending the girl and why he was always so calm around her. He was in love with her. It made perfect sense; none of them had ever met a girl their own age before. Well, except for Angel but Casey had made it clear that none of them should even think about going out with her. Actually, he wouldn't be surprised if his other brothers had crushes on Esmeralda, too. Mikey definitely spends a lot of time with her; he even does extra training with her. A girl like her could easily break their hearts, though, and think nothing of it. One more reason for her to leave before she creates too much destruction in his family.

"Ya gotta calm down. Now try dat again but slower dis time."

She nodded and took a deep breath, "Donnie and Mikey are in big trouble. The foot attacked them. We gotta go now."

**A/N: I know it's kind of short but it's a transition and I have a hard time writing fight scenes because I don't want them to sound lame or pointless…but this kinda does. *sigh* Review anyway please, cuz if no one does I might think there's no point in continuing this and will move onto the next story that has started to take over my mind. Review! Review! Review! **


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. It shouldn't have taken this long to update since I had it all planned out but things kept coming up but it's here now! Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT :( only my OC**

**Chapter 5**

Raph let go of Wolfie, putting his own arms to his sides. "Where are dey?" he asked with a sense of urgency.

"Shell, I don't know," panic seeped into her voice, "Donnie didn't say. He only said they were managing to hold the assault off but wouldn't be able to for much longer."

"Think you'll be able to track 'em down?"

Her expression became pensive before brightening with a sudden idea, "Raph, you're a genius! We'll use the locators that Donnie installed in our shellcells to find them."

"I meant ya could sniff 'em out, only Don's phone can do dat."

"No, tracking them that way would take too long." Wolfie took out her shellcell, pushed a few buttons then turned it so he could see what was on the screen, "They're near that pizza place Mikey likes. You should really consider taking the time to mess around with your cell. You'd be amazed what's on it."

Raph shook his head. "Smart ass," he grumbled under his breath walking towards the sewer exit.

Leo and Wolfie followed him out grabbing smoke pellets, shuriken, and anything else they might need.

The three made their way across the city, rapidly closing the distance between them and their distressed brothers. The boys were finding it difficult to keep up with the girl. Raph had told her to slow down several times but she'd quickly forget, her one track mind only able to focus on protecting her family and not on the fact that she was the only one who knew where to go. The red masked turtle ordered for the eleventh time for her to slow a bit, she stopped completely, seemingly to allow them to catch-up. He saw the dark braid that extended almost to her waist sway slightly as she shook her head once then she shot off leaving the turtles no chance at gaining on the wolf-shifter. They both stopped, and Leo tossed him a condescending glare.

"She must a heard somethin'," Raph snapped before taking off after his sister.

He was starting to tire out. He'd been fighting these guys for what felt like forever and they just kept coming. Donnie let out a yelp and was now on the ground, so Mikey jumped over to help his immediate older brother. The techno geek was unconscious but he seemed to be breathing normally, then again, he new absolutely nothing about that medical type stuff. He took a quick look around searching for any sign of his other siblings. The orange masked turtle was pretty sure Donnie had called them a while ago; they should be here by now. With the conclusion of that thought a flash of green passed by taking several of the enemy ninjas down.

The youngest turtle sighed in relief. "Wolfie, Donnie's hurt."

She nodded and ran over to their older brother. Mikey continued to fight keeping the foot away from the other two. He was holding off three ninjas not seeing a fourth closing in behind him slowly raising a katana. The ninja brought up the hilt, the blade pointed down towards the turtle's neck to avoid his shell. The orange clad ninja jumped to the side letting out an almost girlish scream as the foot ninja fell to the ground with a sai sticking out of his back. Mikey spun to see his oldest brothers joining the battle as well.

"Where's Don?" Leo asked between strikes.

The nun-chuck bearing ninja pointed over to where his purple masked brother was laying, "He's hurt."

Raph grunted as he blocked a sword with the sai that he still had. "What's wrong wit'im?"

Mikey shrugged before ducking a kick.

"He's got a concussion," Wolfie yelled over to them.

The blue eyed turtle leaned toward the hothead and spoke with his voice just above a whisper, "Don't you think it's creepy that she does that?"

"Mikey, I can hear you, and laughing maniacally every time you kill someone on a video game is creepier." Wolfie turned, now not only hearing but seeing the horde of black dressed ninja approaching, yet still five or six buildings away. She glanced over at the turtles that were still fighting what was left of the last group. "Guys, we need to get out of here now. Raph and Leo get Donnie out while Mikey and I distract the newcomers."

Fearless took down a few more foot soldiers before glaring at the youngest of the Hamato clan, "You're not the leader and have no authority to give orders to anyone."

"It won't matter who's leader if we're all dead. Just get Donnie and try not to jostle him too much. Come on Mikey, we gotta go make more time."

Esmeralda gave Mike a handful of smoke pellets then motioned something with her hands, probably explaining some sort of plan. This girl was a little too comfortable giving orders. He'd talked to Master Splinter several times since her arrival, his father sees her as his daughter and a member of their family but there is no way Leo will ever let her take his place as leader. She had most likely been trying to get the position while he had been gone, though with all the trouble Raph got himself into, she couldn't have been very good.

"Leo," Raph called from across the roof top.

The blue masked turtle quickly finished the last few foot soldiers he was fighting and ran over to his two remaining brothers. He helped his immediate younger brother pick the brainiac up off the ground. When the unconscious turtle was secured in the hothead's arms, a huge plume of smoke appeared on a roof top about a quarter mile away. Since the three eldest turtles where now in deep shadow and out of the eye sight of the enemy, the entire group turned around and started heading the opposite direction thinking the ones they sought were by the diversion.

"I don't think dose knuckleheads could get any stupider. Dis ain't the first time we've done dat and dey still fall fer it," Raph chuckled in amusement.

Leo chose to ignore the comment jumping down to the empty alley below and yanked the manhole cover up allowing Raph to go first. They walked through the sewer tunnels in silence, neither one knowing what to say, so nobody said anything. Once they reached the lair, Raph immediately brought Don to the infirmary and laid him down on one of the cots.

Leo stared worriedly at the door, wishing Mike was walking in that moment, "When will he be back?"

Raph came up behind him and leaned against the back of the couch, "Hard ta tell. If dey follow Wolfie's original plan, it won't take long but Mike'll probably want ta switch it up a bit."

"Remember, bro, we set off the smoke pellets, yell and scream a bit to get their attention then we sneak out using the smoke as cover. No improvising unless it's needed," Wolfie informed her immediately older brother as they ran skirting around the enemy ninjas sticking to the shadows to remain unseen. The horde was still heading toward the building their brothers were on. They stopped on a roof a good distance from where they started and threw all the smoke pellets at the ground then jumped to the building in front of the one that was now smoking.

"How are we gonna get them to think everyone's over here?" Mikey asked.

"Same way wolves do, make as much random noise as possible." She cupped her mouth with her hands and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Hey, we're all over here, baka!"

He smiled and yelled, "Come on ya wusses! Come and get us!" in his best Raph impersonation.

"Bet you're too scared to come and face us!" Wolfie yelled at the same time.

"Morons!"

"Knuckleheads!"

"Shellferbrains!"

"Idiots!"

The two young ninjas shouted and screamed until the entire group turned and started towards them. They pivoted and headed for the smoke, taking their time because the enemies were still a long ways away. But the black clothed ninjas were much faster than had been anticipated and by the time Mikey and Wolfie reached the smoke the foot had reached them. The two were now surrounded by at least thirty with no apparent way out.

"Would now be a good time to improvise?" the hyper-active turtle asked his voice shaking nervously.

Wolfie nodded and jumped into the crowd slashing her katana into anything that came near her. Mike was right behind her taking out one ninja after another but not even close to the rate his sister was. He could only imagine how pissed she was right now and almost felt sorry for the foot soldiers, very few if any would be walking away from this fight. They finished off the last of the enemy before hopping to the next building and sitting down to catch their breath, using each other as backrests.

"Well that was a workout," Wolfie commented.

"No kidding. Think Master Splinter will let us skip morning practice since we did so awesome?"

"Doubt it; he'd probably make us train longer for asking." Mike nodded in agreement. "Come on, big brother, we should get back home," Wolfie stood up and walked around to face him. He smiled and held out his arms like an oversized toddler. "Fine," she mumbled rolling her amber eyes. The small girl grabbed his hands and pulled but instead of the turtle being brought to his feet he didn't budge and she landed on the hard concrete. He laughed as he got up bringing her up with him; she tried to get revenge by doing the same to him but only succeeded in making laugh harder.

Leo felt like he had suddenly landed in some twisted parallel universe or something. Everything that was normal had just vanished like it had never existed. Raphael is actually sitting in the living room wearing the same worried expression he is. He even got up and paced a few times. What made this situation weirder was the brother that they were waiting for was Michelangelo, although his baby brother got into trouble so regularly it was like clockwork Leo never had to stay up late for him, unless it was to pull the younger turtle away from a videogame. And of course Don being hurt just topped it off perfectly; he couldn't remember a time the brainiac had ever had an injury this bad, except the last time they faced the Shredder but April had been there to help out. The turtles' human friends had just left on a trip yesterday to find more antiques to put in the store and wouldn't be back for a couple more weeks leaving them with no one to cure the medic.

Finally Mike came walking in with Wolfie a few steps behind. Both looked roughed up and really exhausted, ready to crash any minute.

"Where have you been?" Leo interrogated.

"We got a little held up, bro, nothing to worry about," Mike replied.

"Yeah," Wolfie added, "Murphy's Law decided to take effect."

"And what's dat supposed ta mean?" Raph walked over to her and instantly took notice of the crimson splattered all over her.

"Murphy's Law states that what can go wrong will go wrong." The wolf-shifter saw where her oldest brother's gaze was focused and said in a bored tone, "I'm fine, none of it is mine. I should go check on Donnie," with that she went off to the infirmary.

If Don hadn't been a higher priority at the moment, Raph would have wanted more of an explanation. He knew she was lying; she never came out of a fight without some sort of injury and a piece of cloth that used to be a part of her shirt was now tied around her thigh.

Wolfie quickly got to work checking over her second oldest brother. She wasn't nearly as knowledgeable as he was in this area but she did know how to handle the concussions possibly turning into comas thing that had become a bit of a cliché for the Hamato clan. When she was done she got out the first aid kit and started stitching the deep cut in her thigh. She got it early in the fight when a foot soldier pulled out a dagger and stabbed her trying to disable her. He'd missed the major veins and arteries and the wound had barley slowed her down. Though, now that the adrenaline was gone, the burning pain was a lot more than a simple annoyance. She finished putting on a bandage then ran to her room to change into clean clothes, switching into longer shorts than the ones she was previously wearing to cover up the injury. The moment she walked into the living room she received three very expectant looks from her brothers and Leonardo.

"Donnie's going to be just fine. Right now, all we can do is wait for him to wake up. So, does anyone else have any injuries that need attention?" she asked now looking directly at Raph.

"What are ya starin' at me fer? I only got a few bruises dis time," he stood up and spun slowly to prove the statement.

"Leo's hurt," Mikey blurted.

Wolfie shifted her gaze to the blue masked leader, just now noticing that his whole upper arm was scraped up. "You probably should let me take care of that," she said slowly.

He shook his head, "No, I'm fine. I don't need your help."

"If that gets infected, which it will if it's not cleaned properly, you won't be allowed to train until the infection is gone."

Leo couldn't argue with that so he followed her in to the infirmary. The girl motioned for him to sit on a stool while she grabbed a few supplies. She poured some antiseptic wash onto a rag and dabbed the wound with it washing off the dried blood. Both of them were trying to act comfortable with the awkward silence that filled the room.

When he finally couldn't take it any longer, he asked, "Why are you doing this?" motioning to his arm.

"Because I resent your slightly delusional impression of me." She looked up to meet his eyes, amusement sparkling in hers.

"Which of my brothers are you with?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"As the leader I have a right to know…"

"And I'll tell you as soon as I know what you're talking about."

"Are you dating one of my brothers?"

Esmeralda scrunched up her nose, "Of course not; that's just wrong."

Leo tensed, "How so?"

"They're my older brothers. I know in ancient times it was considered okay to marry your brother but that was then, now it's illegal in most states. And I know we don't have the same parents but it's still so…wrong."

"Do they know that? I don't want you hurting them."

"I'm pretty sure they do. I actually think Raph has a crush on Angel. And it would be majorly hypocritical if I ever hurt them; I've killed people for trying."

Leo had no idea how to respond to that.

**A/N: Please tell what you think! I also take suggestions, requests, flames, constructive criticism, and pickles.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: YAY! I'm finally updating! Sorry this took so insanely long but school started and what little free time I had disappeared. But hopefully this super long chapter will make up for it, and hopefully I'll be able to update at least every other weekend…hopefully. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT or anything else I mention in her, just my OC and the plot. **

**Chapter 6**

The darkness that had consumed him was now holding him suspended in peaceful silence; it had been a while since Donatello had felt this relaxed. The stress of his day to day life seemed to be nonexistent. He could feel pain somewhere but it seemed far away and irrelevant, disconnected from him. But the calm refused to last, the throbbing coming back to his skull with a jolt as he regained consciousness. Now he understood how a street being jack hammered felt. He opened his chocolate brown eyes to look around noting that he was in the infirmary. Luckily there was no one in the bed next to him. The idea of one of his siblings being seriously injured while he was unconscious gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The rustling of paper brought his attention to the other side of the room. There, sitting on folding chairs, were two of his siblings; one was reading, the other sleeping. It wasn't surprising that they were in here; both are known for never leaving an injured brother's side. It was seeing them in the same room that was strange; since they were avoiding each other and was never in the same room at the same time.

Feeling his gaze, the reader looked up and smiled at seeing him awake. "How are you doing, bro?" putting the book down, she moved to sit next to him on the bed.

"My head is pounding." He couldn't help but notice the white bandage that peeked out from under Wolfie's shorts but opted to let that conversation wait till later. "So how long have you two been sitting here?"

"Going on like eighteen hours now."

"Huh," he let out distractedly, "what were you reading?"

"One of your books…something about sea life."

"Are you okay?"

"You know, there is an app. to play twenty questions on my iPod."

Donnie raised an eyebrow ridge, clearly not amused.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine."

The purple banded turtle gently laid his hand on her thigh, hardly putting any pressure where he thought the wound was. Instantly the wolf-shifter brought her hand up to her mouth to muffle the cry of pain as her eyes tightly closed shut. She leaned forward burying her head in his chest shaking slightly. Even though he had accidentally applied a little more pressure than he meant to, she wouldn't have reacted like that if she was fine. Don sighed then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her a little closer.

"Okay, so it hurts a bit."

"Yeah," he scoffed, "a bit. Let me take a look at that."

Without waiting for a reply he sat up, ignoring the wave of dizziness, pushed her shorts up out of the way, and removed the bandage. The lesion was located in the fleshy part of her outer thigh, thankfully not near anything vital but he could tell it was deep and there'd definitely be a scar. It would also cause Raph to go into big brother mode, as he always did when she was hurt, and she wouldn't be allowed to leave the lair for at least the next few weeks.

"Did you stitch this yourself?"

"Yeah," she replied hesitantly. "You really shouldn't be sitting up."

"You aren't the doctor here."

"Well, our regularly scheduled doctor should be indisposed at the moment because of the concussion he received last night."

"Leo could have stitch this up for you; he knows how. It's not going to look very nice now."

"Raph says bad scars make good stories."

"You listen to him way too much. So, what's the story behind that soon to be scar?" Don looked up to meet her eyes.

Wolfie shrugged with indifference, "One of the foot soldiers pulled a dagger out of nowhere. Didn't see it 'til it was in my leg. Then I killed the guy."

Donnie was always stunned by how easily she spoke those words. It was as if another life meant nothing to her. "How – how many did you kill?"

She pivoted to face the wall, "Does it matter?" Her voice was cold but he could see the guilt under the thin layer of ice in her amber eyes.

"Yes, we don't kill unless we have to," though they were gently spoken, the words still made her wince. "Stop acting like you don't care; I know you better than that, sis."

"Yeah, I feel absolutely horrible about it but that guy who stabbed me was going for you next. I refuse to sit back and watch my brothers get hurt when I can prevent it. You guys are the only family I have left."

"What about your family in Oregon, didn't you find them?"

"You said your head was pounding? I'll get you some excedrin," she exited before Don could say anymore.

The genius then turned to his oldest brother, "You can stop acting like you're asleep; she left."

"I didn't even hear her leave," Leo commented as his gaze swept across the room until it fell on the door for a moment before going back to his injured brother.

"She's good at that. Don't you think this avoidance thing is getting a little ridiculous? You're going to have to talk to her eventually. Drawing your own conclusions about her personality without knowing anything about her isn't right; Splinter's probably told you that, too."

"Why do you guys want me to get along with her, anyway?"

"Because whether you like it or not you're both part of the same family, so you might as well get along."

"Fine," he nearly snapped trying to shake off feeling like he was the little brother.

"Could you go see what's taking Wolfie so long?" Don asked while lying back down. "I really do have one shell of a headache."

Leo nodded and left, wondering if he should talk to the girl. Don was right after all. But she seemed to be a lot like Raph, and Leo had never been able to have a quiet conversation with his immediate younger brother. She also had a tendency to act a little like Mike too, though. Yesterday morning he walked in to the kitchen to find them singing and dancing to some song on the radio. And when he tried to talk to the youngest turtle, Mikey would either get distracted by something else or use television to tune him out. Either way talking to her wasn't going to be easy.

He then noticed Raph sitting on the couch watching TV. He was watching Pimp my Ride and the car they were showing right now was a real junker. Leo was surprised that the thing was even capable of starting up. Leo shifted his gazed to his brother before he got sucked into the show.

"Do you know where Esmeralda went?" Leo leaned over the back of the couch.

The red masked turtle turned to face him, "Why do you care where Wolfie is?"

Ignoring the icy tone and the accusing glare, the eldest replied, "Don's awake and has a headache, Wo- ahhh…Esmeralda was supposed the get him something for it."

Raph just pointed to the kitchen and went back to watching his show. Leo walked over to the door and was about to enter when he heard the two voices inside through the thin wood.

"Come on, sis, you gotta eat something," the voice that was distinctly Mikey's nearly begged.

"Not right now. I have to get these pills to Donnie."

"Then, when you're done, come back and eat."

"I'm not hungry, Mikey."

"You haven't eaten since supper last night."

"Your point?"

"It's past lunchtime. There's no way you can't be hungry."

"Well, I'm not."

Leo was in awe at how adult his baby brother sounded. It was like he aged ten years over the last half hour. He actually didn't think his orange masked brother was able to be mature, yet here he was trying to talk common sense into another person. It didn't make a difference that the other person was even younger, the fact that the situation was occurring was still just as astonishing. Maybe the girl being here wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. Suddenly the door moaned slightly from the weight of some leaning against it on the other side.

Mikey's voice, now much closer, had an almost commanding tone to it, "Come back and get some food or I will tell Raph."

There was silence for a moment before the pressure on the door was lifted. It opened rapidly as a very frustrated girl rushed briskly through with a small bottle and a glass of water. Mike watched her go with a similar expression while Leo wore a confused one of his own.

Just before the wolf-shifter was about to enter the infirmary, Leo practically blurted out, "Esmeralda, could we talk later?"

Caught off guard, she stopped short nearly spilling the water and looked at him, her bright amber eyes wide with surprise, "S-sure…and, please, call me Wolfie."

After the short exchange, Raph jumped over the couch and followed his sister into the infirmary. There was some information he wanted from her and him and Don ganging up was the best way to get it out. They usually could back her far enough into a corner that she'd have no choice but to tell. It was actually a strategy they learned from Leo, who had used it on several accounts to contract information from the younger turtles and captured enemies alike. Of course Mr. Perfect was able to do that completely on his own, like everything else. Unfortunately, Wolfie was just too clever for either of her older brothers to take her on alone, so as the saying goes: two heads are better than one. If one of them didn't catch something, the other would. The hothead's train of thought left him wondering how well his older brother would do trying to get information from the youngest ninja. Raph shrugged his shoulders knowing he'd find out later when the two talked.

As he entered the room Don was finishing off the water; he chugged it down without pausing for breath leaving himself gasping for air as soon as he brought the glass away from his mouth.

"Thirsty ain'tchya, bro?"

Don only nodded in response, still too out of breath to speak.

"I was thinkin' dat we should have dat talk wit' Wolfie if yer feelin' up to it."

The bo bearing turtle nodded again, this time in agreement. He switched his gaze to the youngest that was now rocking back and forth from her heels to her toes with a blank expression trying to act as if she was totally oblivious to what was going on.

"You should talk to her about last night first." That caught the raven haired girl's attention.

"Raph's killed people and you don't get on him about it," her thin arms folded in front of her chest with a pout.

"Cut da dramatics, Wolfie, dey ain't workin'."

"Yeah and Raph doesn't try to starve himself after," Donnie added.

Raph took a step closer to her, "Ya know ya don't hafta kill anybody if it bothers ya dat much."

She sighed and looked down at the floor, "Yes I do; if I don't they'll just come back and hurt you."

Raph rubbed the back of his neck, now realizing what the problem was. She'd been getting like that after fights for a while now but it was difficult to know what was going on in that head of hers so he'd just brush it off. She was always back to normal after a few days, anyways.

"Dis is about him, ain't it?"

"No," she replied a little too hastily.

"Sis, letting that guy go the first time we met wasn't a bad thing," Don tried to reassure.

"Yes, it was," her voice raised an octave in frustration. "The next time we saw him he nearly killed Mikey. That never would've happened if I hadn't let him go."

"We've been ova dis, Wolfie, it ain't yer fault."

She heaved a sigh and her shoulders dropped, "Fine, I'll go eat something. Happy?"

"First, we need to talk about your trip." Donnie turned so his legs were now dangling off the high medical bed.

"Whatever. We should get Mikey and Leonardo in here then."

"I ain't gonna go lookin' around fer dem so ya can use da distraction ta sneak out," Raph snapped.

"You don't have to. They've been just outside the door eavesdropping pretty much this whole time."

Raph raised an eyebrow ridge and opened the door. Sure enough there were the blue and orange masked turtles trying to act like they didn't just have their cheeks pressed up to the door. The second oldest rolled his eyes and waved them in without a word.

Leo quickly said before the girl could begin, "I heard your story from Don a couple days ago. If you had family elsewhere, why didn't you stay with them?"

"That's what this is about," Wolfie replied as she moved back to lean against one of the stone walls. Her leg was starting to bother her but she had no intention of letting anyone know; she was already getting more attention from them than she liked. "After I got off the phone with Raph I walked up to the door and rang the door bell. I was really nervous, who wouldn't be, so I was thinking of the best way to introduce myself; running different lines through my mind trying to pick the one that sounded the best. A woman answered the door; she looked like an older version of my mother so I think she might have been my grandmother. The first thing she said was 'If you're here to sell something, you're wasting your time.' I told her I wasn't, and then I told her my name using my parents' last name; she wouldn't know ours. She looked confused so I told her what my mother's full name was before she was married to my biological father. The lady immediately recognized it…" her voice drifted to silence as her eyes filled with a pained faraway look.

"Then what?" Mikey encouraged.

Her eyes migrated to the floor and she shook her head. Raph knew this was killing her but he also knew he couldn't help her until he knew what was wrong. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder hoping she'd pull enough strength from the gesture to continue.

"Come on, ya gotta suck it up and tell us."

Wolfie took a deep breath and braced herself more firmly on the wall. "For a moment she just stared at me, her eyes, the same deep coffee color as my mom's, overflowed with hatred. I didn't think a regular person could loathe something so much. I'd totally expect that from Karai or one of our other enemies, but someone I've never met, never done anything to…. Then she yelled at me, called me the spawn of Satan and his whore. She slammed the door in my face, so I left. There was no reason to stick around after that."

As she finished, silence seeped into the room and covered everyone in a thick blanket. Nobody moved, nobody said anything, no one knew what to say. Wolfie let out a low growl, irritated with herself that she was getting so emotional over something so pathetic. She made a move to leave, not wanting to stay in here anymore. She hated this room, it smelled like bleach with a hint of the blood that was supposed to be washed away. Before she could get out, though, Mikey came up to her and pulled her to him. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist as much as she could with his shell in the way and buried her head in his neck.

The teenage girl looked like a toddler in her older brother's arms as he shushed her and rubbed her back. Don joined in right away, and a moment later, to Leo's bewilderment, Raph did too. It was awkward seeing his little brothers comfort her like that. He'd always been the one to comfort them when they needed it, so none of them had anybody they needed to comfort. Especially Mike…until now. He smiled with pride; even Raphael was saying the same things he always had, telling her that everything was going to be okay and that no matter what they'd stick together as a family and as a team.

After, Mikey carried Wolfie into the kitchen and gave her something to eat sitting across from her while she slowly nibbled to make sure she finished every last bite. When she was done she headed for the dojo to train inviting him to join her. He declined opting instead to play videogames. Shrugging, she went to the large training room finding Leonardo already in there. She watched in wonderment as he practiced his katas, going through them with more precision and grace than she'd ever hope to accomplish.

Leo stopped when he noticed her standing there, not having heard her come in. He was so used to his brother's lack of stealth that he found it disconcerting that she could easily sneak up on him without much effort.

"How do you do that?" he asked with a touch of his own wonderment.

She quickly glanced behind her like she thought he was speaking to someone else, then she met his eyes with confusion in hers. "How do I do what?"

"I didn't hear you enter at all."

Her cheeks reddened a little, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Because my hearing is a lot better than humans, I had trouble understanding how quiet I needed to be. My first sensei just told me to be so quiet that I couldn't even hear myself move; now it's just second nature."

"I guess that makes sense," Leo nodded and he sheathed his katana.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

His expression turned grim as he remembered, "You're not the leader of this clan and you never will be."

Esmeralda started laughing , she had actually started laughing at his dead serious statement. "Of course I'm not, you are. Whatever gave you the idea that I was or wanted to be?"

"Last night," came the simple reply.

She winced, "Riiiiiiight… when you were gone the role of leader got tossed around a lot between Raphie and Donnie. I only came up with the plans. For a bit Raph wanted me to be leader but I didn't want to."

"Why the shell would Raph want _you_ to be leader, let alone anyone?" the story she was trying to feed him wasn't making much sense…

"Raph didn't want the responsibility but he didn't want someone who was going to boss him around either. He figured I wouldn't have enough leverage to force him to obey me." Until she said that, Raph definitely would try to pull something like that.

Leo absentmindedly sat himself on the floor as he nodded in agreement. "I apologize for grossly misjudging you and treating you with such disrespect over the past couple weeks." He looked down and closed his eyes tightly waiting for the teasing for his use of over formality to begin.

Instead, the dark haired girl just smiled warmly and sat down in front of him, "Don't worry about it. I suck at first impressions."

They continue to talk for hours about ninjitsu, their brothers, battle strategies, and anything else that came to mind, never once pausing for an awkward silence. Leo had never been able to talk to someone like that before, not even with his brothers, yet right now he felt so unbelievably relaxed. The worry and stress he usually felt when his family wasn't directly in sight, or even when they were, just disappeared. As their conversation went on the she seemed to loosen up as much as him, not twitching her ears, listening for their brothers he supposed, as much. Their topics changed continuously, barely staying on one for more than a few minutes, another thing he was never able to do before.

"You know, it's kind of confusing. We have the same brothers and father but I'm not sure I could ever see you as a brother, at least not yet, it's too soon to tell." Wolfie thought out loud, Leo wasn't sure how they'd ended up on this subject.

"Well, no one said we have to be brother and sister, they just wanted us to get along."

She looked up at the ceiling even deeper in thought, "That doesn't make it any less confusing," her gaze shifted back to his and nodded slightly, "but I gotchya." She smiled and held out her hand to him, "Friends, then?"

He smiled back and shook, his large hands practically dwarfing hers, "Yeah, friends."

(A/N: Does any one know how to put one of those line break things in? I don't know how to. Anyway, this is a scene change.)

She scanned the large room with a sense of arrogant dominance. This, for lack of a better term, was her throne room. The place in which her power was visibly demonstrated. Here she was the ruler, a queen, an empress. A title that was passed down to her after her father's destruction. Her gaze migrated from the ancient artifacts to the black and red banner on the wall across from her. She felt at home here, completely in control, ready for anything. She'd practically grown up in a room much like this one; to others the room was formal and deadly, a place that was feared by even the bravest of warriors. But not to her, it was her sanctuary, the one place she could think with logical clarity, the one place she felt close to her beloved father. He'd had many rooms like this one built in several different headquarters located all over the world but this one would forever be her favorite because it had been his.

A knock at the double door rudely interrupted her musings. "You may enter," she called out more than a little irritated.

The doors opened and two black clad figures walked in dragging a third between them.

"This is the man that led the ambush against the Hamatos yesterday evening?" the slight Asian woman asked with a sneer.

The two just nodded, too afraid to speak.

"All I asked was that you bring me the blue and the green ones back here alive, I gave you my full permission to do what you will with the others. What was so difficult about such a foolishly simple request?" her feminine voice was hard and unyielding.

"I-I'm sor-sorry, y-your m-majesty. I pr-promise it will n-never hap-happen again."

She smiled but it was unable to reach her cold, unforgiving eyes. These sniveling idiots always said the same thing. She was so sick of hearing it repeated that she might actually consider letting whomever doesn't say it live. Of course, it was already too late for this one. "Whether it happens again or not, you won't be living long enough to give me any degree of guarantee."

With that the third man was dragged back out kicking and screaming as he tried to free himself but it was to no avail.

**A/N: Any and all thoughts and comments please!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yay! I'm finally updating this. I've been planning this chapter for a while so it makes me happy to post it.**

**Disclaimer: I own everything…well except for any TMNT characters. **

**Chapter 7**

_The usual navy blue of the night deteriorates into a soulless, unforgiving black. A strong steady wind pushes back the mask tails of a lone figure as loose gravel cracks under foot. The ninja carefully scans his surroundings taking in the unfamiliar landscape. Nothing interrupts the distant skyline, no trees, no mountains; just dry, lifeless, flat land for as far as could be seen. Lighting strikes washing everything in an eerie whiteness for a small portion of a second while crashing thunder shook the ground beneath his feet. He stands there for a moment to gather his thoughts, searching for a reason for his presence in this seemingly forsaken realm. The cryptic memories that form on the edge of his confused mind make him feel like he is missing something or someone…maybe more than one person. The realization forces him back a step. The images of three younger ninjas appear at the front of his thoughts. _

_His family._

_Body and mind spin as one as he frantically searches the barren waste land for the missing brethren. Hastily picking a direction, he runs hoping to find at least one of them but preferably all. The empty desert blurs past him, the surrounding colors mix and blend as his head spins with vertigo. He drops to the ground with a loud thud, a cloud of dust swirls and weaves around him before settling back down. _

_"_Where are they_?" he thinks as confusion transforms into sickening worry._

_An accumulation of pain filled screams tare through the grainy air. The ninja turns around to see his immediate younger brother fighting to get away from Hun. He tries to rush over to his brother's aid but his legs wouldn't move to stand. In desperation he scratches at the dirt, trying to find enough traction to pull himself up, only to leave six parallel trenches in front of him. He lamely stares at the earth beneath him breathing heavily, helplessly lost. Hun's arctic laughter freezes the ninja's insides and he looks back up. The purple dragon leader has the brother in a crushing hold against his chest with one hand, the other coming up to rest on the turtle's head. The ninja's eyes widened, panicking and trying to move, he dug his fingers into the dry soil as deep in as he could get them using all of his strength to pull himself up and shaking with the effort, yet still not gaining enough leverage to stand. He met his younger brother's eyes, his stomach lurching at the extreme amount of fear and hopelessness he saw there. Hun tightens his grip on the turtle's head and, with the mind numbing sound of bone snapping like a tree branch, rapidly turns leaving it at an unnatural angle. _

_"No!" the ninja yells as the large man drops his brother carelessly on the ground and walks away._

_Finally he brakes free of the invisible bonds holding him down and races over to his immediate younger brother but when he gets there the younger turtle disappears. The ninja takes a step back surprised, and then looks around him for any sign of where the brother went. The green figure that catches his eye isn't the brother he's looking for but it's a brother no less. He's strapped to a large metal slab with several different wires attached to his arms and legs. The ninja runs toward him, more than ready to free his second youngest brother. Suddenly his brother's entire body begins to convulse violently; he pauses as he reaches the other turtle unsure of what is going on. After a few short moments patches of green skin fade to brown then to black and the ninja now understands what's going on. He pulls at the wires, his hands matching the rhythm of the other's body, trying to disconnect them from his brother but the wires are embedded too deep into the skin. A pale tan colored liquid bubbles and slowly seeps from the charred patches. All the ninja can do is watch in horrified silence as his brother is slowly electrocuted to death. _

_He collapses, his knees striking the earth, and lets out a string of shaking rasps. The gruesome mixture of dust and burnt flesh disturbs his senses as he chokes down the compulsion to gag. But the bile reaches his tongue anyways. A swirling sea of guilt, dread, and confusion overruns his mind. His eyes become clouded and unable to focus. His breaths accelerate and once again the world around him swims and pitches from one side to the other then back again. Why is this happening? Loose gravel shifts somewhere behind the ninja but he ignores it. _

"_This is what happens when you cross me. They are dead because of you. And this one will soon follow."_

_The ninja sluggishly faces the speaker who is holding his youngest sibling by the upper arm with a bruising grip. The younger ninja twists and turns pining for an escape with an uncharacteristic ferocity. _

_The ninja rises to his feet, not willing to give up any more of his family, "What do you want, Karai?"_

"_For you to suffer, as I have," Karai snarls as she pulls her katana from its sheath and brings it down in front of the struggling teenager._

_The young ninja ceases all movement and stares wide eyed at the sparkling silvery metal._

_The older brother pulls out his own weapons and runs for the foot clan leader, ready to rip her to pieces. Karai's cold, calculated smirk stretches one corner of her mouth up slightly. Theirs lines of sight cross and lock. Her eyes never stray from his for a moment as she poises the sword ready for a strike. With vision blurring speed, she plunges it into the torso of the young ninja. Then, unceremoniously leaves the teenager quivering with the dark crimson liquid gushing uncontrollably. The ninja reaches the last of his family and gently pulls the smaller figure up onto his lap, not taking notice of the blood dripping off the lifeless body._

"_Please, no," he barely breathes as his throat rips and contorts to make room for his heart. _

_

* * *

_

Two terrified screams filled the lair, mercilessly destroying the tranquil quiet. Wolfie sat straight up in her bed being brought out of a deep slumber by the horrible sounds. She scanned her room for the source of the noise and noticed that her radio had been left on. A slow, country song was playing that she had heard several times before. She slowly crept out of her room and looked out over the living area, deeply relieved to see it dark and empty. Once again, the most dominant sounds in the lair were the consistent humming of the machines in Donnie's lab and the refrigerator. The crashing of shattering glass drifted out of the kitchen. Wolfie jumped then tensed and crouched wishing she had grabbed her katana on her way out of her room. She leaned her head on the bars of the railing as she realized that it was only the ice maker. Master Splinter walked up behind her, his walking stick steadily beating against the floor with each evenly spaced step.

The teenager stood and pivoted to face her father directly, "Sensei, what's going o…?"

The old rat interrupted her with a gesture for her to pause. "I must attend to Leonardo, will you check on Raphael?"

Wolfie obediently nodded and ran into her oldest brother's room as Splinter made his way to the room next door. His son was sitting up in his bed staring at the ceiling with exhaustion and slight irritation.

"Are you alright, my son?"

Leonardo nodded and pulled his legs into agura style to make room for his sensei to sit, "I had one of those dreams again. I had hoped they wouldn't come back once I returned home but…" he allowed his voice to trail off since his next words had lost their necessity.

"Do you wish to tell what it was bout?"

"No, not right now. Where did Esmeralda go?"

"She went to keep your brother company until I could get there."

"What's wrong with him? Which brother?" Leo rapidly asked as he stood up.

"Raphael had a nightmare, also."

The blue masked ninja flew into the next room but stopped short when he entered. Raphael was sitting straight up staring at the far wall, his crystallized amber eyes held only a dazed horror. Esmeralda was sitting side-ways on his lap, her knees hardly bent so her feet stuck out past the side of the hammock. She was gently rubbing his arm looking up at him with big eyes. Her voice was childish in its attempt to soothe and her shushing sounded like flowing water.

"It's okay, Raphie, I'm right here."

The frightened turtle responded by pulling her closer to him, the small girl winced but continued even though the hold he had on her was becoming too tight. Splinter walked in and placed a gnarled paw on his second oldest son's forearm.

"Raphael, you must let go of your sister."

He finally broke from the odd trance and unwrapped his arms. Wolfie got to her feet but remained at his side.

"How are you?" the father delicately inquired.

"I'm tired. Would ya guys get outta my room, I want ta go back ta sleep," he snapped.

The youngest of the Hamato clan hesitantly complied and trudged out with her shoulders slumped. Leo was sure that if she had a tail at that moment it would've been between her legs. Splinter nodded and followed his daughter out knowing his hotheaded son would come to him when he was ready. Leonardo stood there for a moment, his gaze switching from his father's departing form to his immediate younger brother then he also exited.

He went to his own room and laid down on his bed trying to get some sleep before morning practice. He ended up staring and the bright red numbers on his clock watching figures change. Each minute took years. Leo sighed and got up. He slowly left his room jumping down to the main floor and walked across the cold stone floor to the kitchen. The silence of the night rang in his ears. A crisp line light stretched through the living room, Leo turned to see that the brightness was coming from the dojo. He cautiously pushed the door open enough for him to slip through and saw that Esmeralda was already in there.

She clutched her swords with a firm grip as she swung them down then slashed back up with one. Her body move like a ballet dancer, twirling and jumping with ease and grace yet there was a certain ferocity that he'd never seen before tonight. She kicked out then spun to strike with her other leg. The katana bearing turtle took a few steps towards her coming within range of her attacks. She paused mid roundhouse kick.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I've just never seen Raph that scared before."

"Have you seen him when he sees a spider?"

"Yes," she swung her katana in a wide circle before sheathing them, "but this was different. With bugs he just spazzes out for a minute then he's fine."

"So?"

"Tonight he wasn't just frozen with fear, he was cryogenic. What could he have dreamt about that would do that to him?"

Leo sighed and shrugged, "I don't know, probably had nightmare that he was grounded to the lair with Mikey for two months."

"He's not the insensitive irresponsible jerk you try to make him out to be. He's better than that," Wolfie went up to her room in a huff leaving the fearless leader alone in the dojo.

**A/N: I'd love to tell you when I'll be updating next but I don't know when I'll have time, so I'm just going to promise that it will be updated, I'm swearing it under oath. And thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and favorited me/this story. It fills me with gleeful joyousness that people like it. Review please! **


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: I am a million times sorry it took so long to update this, so I'm just going to cut to the chase and start with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC and this story idea, not TMNT… or anything else I happen to mention in here.**

**Chapter 8**

The next morning found the Hamato household in its usual state of chaos. Wolfie was up before dawn and made sure her brothers were too, she had found some of Casey's dirty socks and had laid the rotten pieces of cloth over the three younger turtles' noses. Feeling a bit put off by the rude awakening, Raph, Don, and Mikey chased the girl around the lair, but after the fifth lap they had completely lost track of her. They searched everywhere, making sure not to miss any of the smaller places that only she could fit into. Raph had both Mike and Don check behind the TVs twice and then checked there once himself. After a while, Master Splinter called all three of them over for morning training, so they grudgingly walked into the dojo to find Wolfie practicing her katas.

"And where were you hidin' dis whole time?" Raph nearly growled.

Wolfie shrugged, "I kinda moved around. I was under the table for a bit, and behind the TVs, and in the cupboard under the bathroom sink. We really need to clean that, by the way."

Raph shook his head in minor annoyance and pulled out his sais crouching down and motioning for her to come at him.

In contrast, morning training went quite smoothly. Nothing interrupted the teacher teaching his students and the session seemed to go much faster. Though, everyone couldn't help but notice that once again the oldest and the youngest of the students were avoiding each other like a peanut butter and sardine sandwich with extra hot sauce, or more accurately, Wolfie was avoiding Leo like a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. She even refused to spar against him. Splinter was about to resolve the issue then and there, but changed his mind leaving the matter for a later time. He instead focused on his other children, mostly Michelangelo, who seemed to have no intension of taking this much needed practice seriously. The old rat only hoped that his youngest son would not say anything that would end today's lesson early.

"Now, will you five please line up so I may teach you a new kata." Splinter paused for a moment. He was the father of five children and all five were here at once. It struck him as strange that the fact was just occurring to him now, but there it was. Five different personalities he had to shape into one fully capable team. "As with all katas, your movements need to flow like water. Keep your knees bent." He started going through the movements slowly and scanned his students as they mimicked him, "Michelangelo and Esmeralda get closer to the floor, your center of gravity needs to be lower." The two youngest did as ordered, adjusting their footing for better balance. "Very good, now hold that stance." Splinter then proceeded to walk up to each student and pushed his weight into them. Leonardo and Raphael didn't budge, both holding the stance with an indescribable amount of confidence. Donatello however completely lost his balance and fell to the ground. "You must learn to steady yourself better, my son, there will be a time in battle where you will need to dig your roots far into the soil in order to stay in that one spot."

"Yes, Sensei," Don replied as he got back up.

Splinter nodded and moved on to the younger two, they wobbled quite a bit, Wolfie more than Mikey, but both managed to stay on their feet.

Thankfully, Mike's mouth remained shut for most of the period, accept for the occasional smart remark to anger one of his siblings, and for the first time in a week morning training concluded at its normal time. After, the orange masked turtle immediately headed into the kitchen to start breakfast while the others changed and washed up. Wolfie was the first one to make it to the bathroom; she rushed into the shower before Raph could come in to try and get the bathroom for himself.

Leonardo had been five paces behind her when the door shut. His head rested itself on the wall next to the door as he groaned in annoyed frustration.

"What's yer problem, fearless?" Raph asked now leaning on the wall beside his older brother.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

Raph chuckled, "Den when ya hear da water of da shower turn on just go right on in. Wolfie should be in by den and won't care if yer in dere."

The blue masked turtle raised an eyebrow arch and gave his brother an odd look, not at all convinced. "You can't be serious. She's a girl if you haven't noticed. I can't just go walking in there while she's taking a shower."

"Don't get yer panties in a twist, fearless. Ever heard of a shower curtain?"

"That still doesn't mean it's right. It's not decent, Raphael."

The sai bearing ninja rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his plastron, "We only got one bathroom; if I needed ta take a piss I wouldn't want ta wait fer anyone ta get done in da shower, but if ya want ta, whateva." He shoved himself away from the wall with his foot and walked to the kitchen.

Leo shook his head before shuffling back over to the wall, this time pushing his shell up against it. After a few seconds, liquid started pulsating against the walls of his rapidly over filling bladder; he started to tap his heel on the stone floor. After five minutes, the pulsating had turned into all out pounding; he was swaying back and forth from heels to toes. After ten minutes, his bladder couldn't possibly get any fuller, it was already a water balloon ready to explode; he was sitting down on the ground bouncing slightly, he then came to the conclusion that he must look really stupid and got up but unknowingly continued the slight bouncing. After fifteen minutes, he realized he had been wrong, his bladder could get fuller, it just had to stretch and push at other internal organs in the area to make more room; he frowned as a stabbing pain reverberated throughout his lower abdomen.

With her shower finally ended, Wolfie dried her hair the best she could with the thin towel, but the thick course mass of blackness was still drenched. She shrugged, at least it wasn't dripping, then she pouted a little as she realized she wouldn't be able to put it in a braid yet. She slid over to the closet and pulled out the clothes she had put in there earlier and got into them. Before exiting, she leaned over the tub a little and tried to wring more of the water out of her hair but nothing seeped out, she rolled hers eyes. How did that work?

As soon as she opened the door, a green blur sped into the bathroom nearly knocking her over if it hadn't been for her faster reflexes, and the door slammed loudly behind her. She shook her head, figuring it to be Donnie. He was the only one of her brothers that refused to go into the bathroom for any reason while she was in the shower. Raph and Mikey, on the other hand, believed that since there was a shower curtain it was totally fine that they come and go as they please. And of course, because they had to be jerks, they would leave the door wide open and move her towel from the towel rack next to the shower to the one by the door, each time telling her it was to test her endurance. Wolfie giggled and shook her head as she went over to the kitchen, she loved having brothers.

Raph pulled Wolfie aside as she entered. "So, when are ya gonna do it?" he whispered in her ear.

"Impatient much?" she whispered back.

"Awww, look at the two love birds whispering sweet nothings to each other in the corner," Mikey cooed from the other side of the kitchen.

"If I had something ta throw at'chya, Mike, I would."

Wolfie only smiled with a dangerous amount of mischievousness in her amber eyes. Then she walked over to Mikey and grabbed his hand with both of her own. He narrowed his eyes in wary confusion and was about to ask what was going on when Wolfie talked first.

"I can do this no longer, Michelangelo. Living each day in such close proximity to one another has broken down my resolve into a fine powder. I fear that if we continue like this, we will fade into a hopelessly desolate oblivion."

Donatello had come from his lab when Wolfie had started talking. His gaze slid from his baby sister's pleading wide eyes to his baby brother's confusion, then moved to Raph. His immediate older brother was looking remarkably stoic before snorting and bringing his clenched fist up to his mouth, but then his hand fell back to his side and his face once again showed no emotion.

"I have thought very deeply on the matter and have meditated on it endlessly. I know we had previously agreed to keep it a secret, but what we feel is simply too strong to suppress and time will only fuel it's growing power over us. Michelangelo, I love you. I don't care how incestuous it is, or who knows it. I plan to tell everyone at breakfast, and then we will be able to continue our lives together." Wolfie wrapped her arms around her older brother's neck and leaned into him. "I want to be Mrs. Michelangelo Hamato, and we will grow old together raising our children, and later, our grandchildren."

Raph had started laughing hysterically the moment Wolfie had uttered the word incestuous and seeing both Mike and Don's jaws drop to the ground only made him laugh harder. It was obvious that Wolfie had gone a little too far, but the look on both his younger brothers' faces was too priceless, so he wasn't at all interested in caring.

Wolfie turned to him with a triumphant smile across her face. "You owe me ten dollars now, Raphie." She studied Don for a moment. "Actually, I think you should give me twenty bucks for shocking Donnie speechless too."

"Not happening." Raph walked over to her and leaned against the counter. "But if ya make Fearless speechless, I might think about thinking about it."

"Yeah, but that won't be easy," Mikey chimed in. Raph growled and took a step toward his youngest brother. The orange masked turtle was glad the slight teenage girl was in between them. He put up his hands in surrender and continued by saying, "Leo isn't an easy turtle to make speechless."

"Oh, I know," Wolfie nodded her head, "it's you and Donnie that are."

"Who and Donnie are what?" the clan leader asked has he entered the room to join the others.

"Raph has a boyfriend."

It was one of the simplest sentences she had ever spoken. There were only four words, five syllables, but she felt the indescribable weight as they pounced off her lips. Every one's jaws fell; well, at least every one's that she could see did. Raph was far enough behind her that he wasn't visible in her peripheral vision, and that made her nervous. It had been an idiotic statement blurted out without any thought or consideration. She wasn't at all surprised when a giant leathery hand crashed into her head sending multiple shock waves throughout the inside of her skull. Then she smiled inwardly to herself. She was already going to be in a tremendous heap of trouble, might as well have a little more fun.

Wolfie rubbed the back of her head where the blow had struck and pivoted her upper torso so she could see her oldest brother. "Ow…Oh, I'm sorry. You probably wanted to tell him that you were gay first, huh?"

That was it; the sai bearing turtle growled and took chase as the slim girl sprinted out of the kitchen. She wasn't going her fastest, though, and he knew it. They were half way through the living room and he had almost caught up with her. Wolfie looked back at him, her eyes bright with adrenalin. He stopped. Taking a few deep breaths, he allowed his mind to clear. There was no point in trying to catch her, she'd never let that happen, she was just leading him on. He'd get his revenge later.

Leo looked at the door in confusion, "What is going on?"

"Raph bet Wolfie that she couldn't make you speechless. He was kind of asking for that; he was egging her on, after all." Don informed him.

"So it's not true?"

"Nope," Mikey confirmed, "that was probably just the first thing that popped into Wolfie's head."

After she looked back at her furious red masked brother, Wolfie sped up a bit. All it took was one miscalculation and she'd be caught. She didn't really know what would happen if he did catch her; she'd never made him that angry before, but she knew it wouldn't be good. Her mind flashed back to the last time she had gotten in trouble: she had gone out alone to go to a party with Angel. Both Master Splinter and Raph had been really angry, and her father had immediately forbid her from leaving the lair for a week. But Raph thought that wasn't enough punishment and convinced Splinter to add on to it or it wouldn't get the message across. So on top of being grounded for a week, she had to do pull-ups for an hour straight, and every time she let go of the bar the punishment would be extended by half an hour.

With her mind elsewhere, Esmeralda wasn't paying attention to where she was going and within a millisecond she went from running at near top speed to lying flat on her back without any idea how it happened.

"A ninja always takes note of her surroundings, my daughter. Now where were you running off to in such a hurry? Michelangelo should have breakfast done soon."

"Sorry, Sensei." She turned back again, but only saw the empty living room. "I was going nowhere, I guess. Well, I'm hungry. I hope Mikey's got the food ready."

"So how are you and Leonardo getting along?"

"Fine."

The wizened rat raised an eye brow as his obsidian eyes reflected skepticism. He put his walking stick directly in front of him and rested both of his hands on top of it.

"We just had a…disagreement last night, that's all. I'm sure it's just one of those 'we-just-need-a-bit-of-space' sorts of things. Remember when I first met Angel and I thought she hated me. You said that it's impossible to force a friendship. It remains the same in this situation."

"Time to eat!" Mikey called causing Wolfie to start a little.

She and Master Splinter entered the kitchen and sat down at the table with Leo, Raph and Don as Mike put the French toast on the table. Everyone dug in and within minutes half the food was gone. A few more minutes past and murmured conversations sprouted up as the rasping of forks on plates slowly faded away.

Mikey, Don, and Raph had been talking about the latest episode of Myth Busters. The orange masked ninja was trying to prove that if they had done it right the myth wouldn't have been busted; Donnie disagreed saying that no matter how it was done, the myth couldn't even be found plausible because it went against about five different laws of physics. Raph was just trying to point out that it really didn't matter if the myth was busted or not as long as something got blown up.

Mikey decided to back out of the conversation when his two immediate older brothers went off on a tangent and started talking about thermite reactions. He let his eyes wonder around the room, taking in the cob webs that had collected in the small area between the top of the cupboards and the ceiling. The faintest thought of the little nook needing to be dusted passed through his mind, but it was only a soft breeze in the peaceful silence. His eyes continued to roam and soon fell on the raven haired girl sitting diagonally across the table from him. She was motionless with her forehead propped up in her palm and her eyes closed. The orange banded turtle smiled as he took note of the fork still in her hand, the other end of it resting on the side of her plate. He nudged Raph with his elbow, and motioned with his head to the wolf-shifter when his brothers looked at him.

"Looks like someone wasted a little too much energy dis morning," Raph commented in a lowered drawl.

Mikey's grin widened as he leaned into the table more to get a bit closer to his sister, Don smirked and did the same when he realized what his little brother was planning.

"Hey, Wolfie!" they both shouted together.

She was to her feet before they finished saying her name; her eyes grew into wide saucers before narrowing as she crouched and brought her clenched fists up in front of her face. "What – who we fighting?"

Her question was met with hysterical laughter from her three older brothers and a disapproving look from her father. Wolfie half sighed half groaned as she picked her fork up off the ground where it had been dropped and sat back in her seat. She replaced the side of her forehead to her palm and poked at the chunks of French toast in the pool of syrup on her plate with the fork in her other hand. The action was a refusal to acknowledge the laughter still ringing around the room. Occurrences such as this are few and far in between; normally she could sense anything coming from a mile away. Wolfie proceeded to mentally curse and kick herself for screwing up on her most developed ability. She growled under her breath as she drew circles in the syrup.

"Being a ninja, it goes without saying that one needs to be getting sufficient amounts of sleep, Esmeralda," Splinter scolded. "Perhaps you should be going to bed at an earlier hour?"

"She should probably start with actually going to bed," Don interjected, "I checked the security cameras in and around the lair before I went to bed; she was up in the garage."

Wolfie leaned back and slouched down in her chair fidgeting and uncomfortable. She despised their little communal grills and never participated when it was someone else in the hot seat. Too bad she couldn't ninja vanish right now.

**A/N: That seems like a decent enough place to end it for now. I could have kept going but I really needed to update. Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner; unfortunately, once again I can't guarantee anything. *sigh* Well, until then review please! **

**Oh, yeah, and just as a heads up, I'm planning on changing the name of this fic soon. I've got a few possibilities picked out, so now I just need to make the final decision. Okay, I think that's all, bye… and review! **


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